Friday, May 16, 2014

Art Appreciation: Leonardo and Raphael

"Man is the measure of all things."

Leonardo da Vinci, Self Portrait, 1512

Form: The formal qualities of this drawing are
not as significant as the iconographic and contextual qualities it represents.
The drawing is a fine representation of the human head and face and demonstrates
a close attention to proportion, detail, and texture. The diagonal
lines that run from the upper left hand corner of the drawing and flow
down to the lower right unify the drawing and make a cohesive value structure
by flowing along like waves against the direction of the light source which
is coming from the upper right hand corner. The use of line and cross
hatch marks to create texture and chiaroscuro are typical of Leonardo's
style especially in his drawing and are complimented in their contrast
to the types of lines that he uses to depict the hair which are long, flowing
and curvilinear. Iconography: This drawing was probably a fairly
quick "sketch" by Leonardo and the artist probably did not intend for the
drawing to be deeply symbolic, nevertheless, to us it is. Because
the drawing was drawn from direct observation it is a snapshot of Leonardo's
penetrating gaze. As a viewer it is easy to imagine that this drawing
and his facial expression sum up some of the qualities of this intense
individual. Interestingly enough, he looks kind of grumpy in the
drawing but most accounts describe him as a witty and charming individual.One of the skills that most painters needed to develop
during the Renaissance period was the ability to paint portraits and accurate
likenesses. Often this skill was developed by painting with a the
only model that one might have available which is one's self. The
humanistic and platonic idea of perfectability also gave rise to self reflection
and observation. A portrait then is not just about the immediate
apprearance but also it is a symbol of the person. In this image
we see that Leonardo is studying himself and also demonstrating his ability
to create a strong physical likeness as well a psychological likeness.Context: Here is Leonardo's letter to the Duke of
Milan asking for employment,

To My Lord the Duke of Milan, Florence, 1482Most Illustrious Lord,Having until now sufficiently studied and examined the
experiments of all those who claim to be experts and inventors of war machines,
and having found that their machines do not differ in the least from those
ordinarily in use, I shall make so bold, without wanting to cause harm
to anyone, as to address myself to Your Excellency to divulge my secrets
to him, and offer to demonstrate to him, at his pleasure, all the things
briefly enumerated below :1. I have the means to construct light, solid and
sturdy bridges, easy to transport, in order to follow and if necessary
rout the enemy, and other even more solid which resist fire and storm,
simple to remove and lay down. And the means to burn and destroy those
of the enemy.2. For the siege of a stronghold, I know how to
clear the moats of water and construct an infinite number of bridges, battering-rams
and scaling-ladders and other machines useful for this sort of enterprise.3. Item, if a stronghold could not be reduced by
bombardment, because of the height of its slopes or the strength of its
position, I have the means of destroying any citadel or other emplacement
whose foundations do not rest upon the ground.4. I also have methods for making mortars that
are simple and practical to move, that throw rubble in an almost steady
stream, causing much fear and terror in the enemy camp with their smoke,
as well much damage and confusion.5. Item, I also have the means, using tunnels and
twisting secret passageways, dug noiselessly, of arriving at a determined
point, even if this meant going under moats and rivers.6. Item, I shall make sure and invincible covered
wagons, which will penetrate the ranks of the enemy with their artillery,
and that group of armed men does not yet exist which can stop them; infantry
can then follow them unharmed and unobstructed.7. Item, if necessary I shall make siege guns,
mortars and other machines, of beautiful and practical shape, completely
different from what is generally in use.8. Wherever the use of cannon is impossible, I
shall forge catapults, mangonels, trabocchi and other admirably effective
engines, generally little used. In short, according to the situation, I
shall manufacture an indefinite number of various machines, both offensive
and defensive.9. And if, by chance, the engagement took place
at sea, I have plans for the construction of engines quite suited to attack
or defense, of vessels which resist the fire of the largest guns, powder,
and smoke.1O. In time of peace, I believe I am capable of
giving you as much satisfaction as anyone, whether it be in architecture,
for the construction of public or private buildings, or in bringing water
from one place to another. Item, I can sculpt in marble, bronze or terracotta;
while in painting, my work is the equal of anyone¹s. What is more,
I shall undertake the execution of the bronze horse which will be the immortal
glory, eternal homage, to the beloved memory My Lord Your Father, and to
the illustrious house of Sforza. And if one or another of the things listed
above seems impossible or impractical, I should be pleased to demonstrate
on your grounds or in any other place which may please Your Excellency,
of whom I beg to remain the most humble servant.Leonardo da Vinciquoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th
Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon
Books)

Notice that he begins his letter by telling the Duke
all about his abilities as a scientist, inventor, and strategist and end
at the end of the letter he says "Oh by the way, I'm an artist too."
What this anecdote indicates is that Leonardo was the quintessential Renaissance
man. Although this story indicates that Leonard is portraying himself
as a scientist philosopher and architect first, this is just a dramatic
way of introducing himself. Leonardo new full well that his
reputation as an artist preceded him.A
link to a biography about Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, 1495-7 Milan, Santa Maria delle Grazie
1) The door was enlarged in 1652
2) Half a dozen well meaning restorers seem to have been its worst
enemy.
3) A protective curtain hung by friars in 1768
trapped humidity and abraded the mural when opened for visitors.
4) To ward against sunlight, nearby windows are now boarded.
5) Post world war rebuilding added central heating which
stabilized the environment.
6) The foundations of the structure were strengthened.
(Source: National Geographic Magazine)

Form: The Last Supper is a mural in bad condition.
Leonardo used a combination of materials to paint this fresco and his experiment
failed almost immediately. Leonardo painted a lead white primer on
top of the plaster wall to slow the drying and so he could paint more slowly.
It's not clear why the two didn't adhere but possibly the moisture of the
plaster wall rejected the oil based primer on its surface and kept it from
creating a tight cohesive bond. As a result the paint almost immediately
began to flake. For some detail views
of the fresco and its context see this page.The figures are life sized and placed in a single frieze
like band on one side of the table. The apostles are also arranged
into four groups of three figures each. Each figure in the group
is posed or arranged in a unique manner and exhibits a unique emotional
gesture. The composition is symmetrical with Christ at it's center
and arranged using one point perspective whose vanishing point converges
behind Christ's head. Almost all of the figures, except for the single
figure of Judas have their heads' placed on the horizon line.The use of linear perspective is exaggerated and further
complimented by the arrangement of the coffers in the ceiling, the doors
along each side of the room and the atmospheric perspective of the landscape
through the windows. This is further exaggerated by the gesture of
Christ's body in the center whose arms are outstretched and whose body
forms a triangular shape that points back towards the window and the vanishing
point.Iconography: The figures size and placement in a single
frieze like band on one side of the table. Serve two purposes.
First, they arrange the figures in such a way that the monks who would
eat in this room felt as if they were pulling up a chair and eating with
Jesus and the apostles. Second, the arrangement also refers to the
classical friezes that Leonardo would have studied and this reference would
not have been lost on the viewers. The apostles arrangement into four groups of three figures
is a reference to the sacred number of the trinity which represents the
father, son, and the holy spirit. This symbolism could also be part
of why there are three windows in the background and is also part of why
Christ's figure is arranged in the three sided triangular form. For Leonardo and his contemporaries, humanism or the human
experience of religion was the key to unlocking the world. Since
the study of man and his experience was so important it makes sense that
human gesture and pose is central to understanding this painting.
Here's a quote from Leonardo's notebook in which he discusses how to compose
groups of figures in historical pictures:

When you have thoroughly learned perspective
and have fixed in your memory all the various parts and forms of things,
you should often amuse yourself, when you take a walk for recreation, by
watching and taking note of the attitudes and actions of men as they talk
and dispute, or laugh or come to blows one with another - both their actions
and those of the bystanders who either intervene or stand looking on at
these things; noting them down with rapid strokes in this way, in a little
pocket book, which you ought always to carry with you.

quoted from Artists on Art, from the
14th to the 20th Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves,
(New York, Pantheon Books)

As you can see, Leonardo believed in drawing from figures
from observation and that he particularly was interested in communicating
emotion and experience through gesture. Christ's pose, with his arms
outstretched is further invitation to the scene and an indication in which
he is willing participant in his sacrifice. Each apostles' figure
is posed or arranged in a unique manner and exhibits a unique emotional
gesture. This refers back to the viewer and how the viewer might
have had a similar reaction to one of the apostles. This is a humanistic
way of looking at the story because the viewer is supposed to look for
a figure that he best identifies with. The composition is arranged
using one point perspective whose vanishing point converges behind Christ's
head which places him in the most important and literally the most central
location in the image. All of the figures, except for the single
figure of Judas have their heads' placed on the horizon line and this is
symbolic of Judas status as a betrayer and therefore "beneath" the other
apostles.

Context: Since Leonardo was a scientist
as well as a painter he attempted to try mixing tempera, oil paint and
fresco in this painting. The result was that the mural almost immediately
had a really bad "dandruff" problem.The drawing condenses misfortunes the "Last Supper" has
suffered and reveals modern correction.Leonardo painted a lead white primer on top of the plaster
wall to slow the drying and so he could paint more slowly. It's not
clear why the two didn't adhere but possibly the moisture of the plaster
wall rejected the oil based primer on its surface and kept it from creating
a tight cohesive bond.

Form: This is a fairly small pen and ink drawing, depicting
a nude male figure whose body is inscribed within several geometric forms.
The rendering utilizes contour drawing rather than much attempt to portray
value or chiaroscuro. In the margins of the pages are inscribed
in reverse (or mirror writing) Leonardo's observations about Vitruvius's'
text. The drawing is an interpretation of these ideas which are quoted
in Stokstad. (Make sure you read them!)Iconography: In a more general sense, this drawing
represents Leonardo and his contemporaries neoplatonic and humanistic ideologies
which can be traced back to the writings of Vitruvius
and classical thinking. The most relevant humanistic "sound bite"
from that era being, "Man is the measure of all things." In this
drawing we see that Leonardo takes this idea almost quite literally and
scientifically.In addition to the idea of "man" in a general sense, Leonardo,
consistent with classical thinking, chooses to represent the nude male
figure rather than the nude female. This choice is quite deliberate
because much of the thinking concerning classical humanism revolves around
the specifically male experience of the world.Context: Leonardo's notebooks are precisely and
this is why Bill Gates has bought them all up and now owns all the rights
to them. Aside from their initial value as antique works by a master,
they are an invaluable source of information for modern scholars concerning
both how Leonardo thought about the world and also how an artist from the
Renaissance might have thought. Within its pages are his observations
concerning science, art, his inventions of flying machines, his studies
of anatomy, observations of his fellow man and commentaries on other's
ideas and texts.

In Stokstad you can read the quote from Vitruvius' treatise.
Here's another quote from Leonardo that applies to how he thought about
the human figure in a rationalistic and scientific manner.

From chin to the starting of the hair is a tenth
part of the figure.From the chin to the top of the head is an eighth part.And from the chin to the nostrils is a third a part of
the face.And the same from the nostrils to the eyebrows, and from
the eyebrows to the starting of the hair.If you set your legs so far apart as to take the fourteenth
part from the height, and you open and raise your arms until you touch
the line of the crown of the head with your middle fingers, you must know
that the center of the circle formed by the extremities of the outstretched
limbs will be the navel, and the space between the legs will form an equilateral
triangle.The span of a man's outstretched arms is equal to his
height.quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th
Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon
Books)

Even though it was against the law, Leonardo was still
able to obtain corpses and dissect them. Leonardo's studies of anatomy
initially make sense from a rationalistic point of view for artists.
He states in one of his notebooks,It is a necessary thing for a painter, in order to be
able to fashion limbs correctly in the positions and actions which they
can represent in the nude, to know anatomy of sinews, bones, muscles, and
tendons in order to know, in the various different movements and impulses,
which sinew or muscle is the cause of each movement and to make only those
prominent and thickened, and not the others all over the limb, as do many
who, in order to appear great draftsmen, make their nudes wooden and without
grace, so that it seems rather as if you were looking at a sack of nuts
than a human form or a bundle of radishes rather than the muscles of nudes.quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th
Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon
Books)So then, you may ask yourself, why did he choose to study
an unborn child in the womb. The answer is that he was a Renaissance
man an interested also in pure science.A flying machine by Leonardo.

Leonardo, Virgin and St. Anne with the Christ Child and the Young John the Baptist. c 1500-1 Charcoal heightened with white on brown paper, 54x39" (139x101 cm)National Gallery, London

Form: This is a large drawing on brown paper that
uses the brown of the paper as part of its value structure. The medium
brown tone of the paper served as the middle tones of the drawing and then
the lights and darks were established with chalk and charcoal. In several sections of the drawing, Leonardo has chosen
to leave sections unfinished in terms of value and we can see contour lines
that indicate the forms. Some of the contour lines are rough and
several have some "false" starts and corrections he made.The overall composition is fits the figures in a pyramidal
form in the foreground of the image. The relationship of the figures
although placed within a stable triangular form is still somewhat awkward
and it looks almost as if Leonardo has collaged the figures together.
In the background of the image is an idealized landscape.Iconography: The iconography of the image deals
with the holy family in a humanistic fashion. This holy family and
its gestures are meant to relate to your own family and this ties in with
the Catholic humanist ideal of seeing the image of Christ in the world
that surrounds you and with the concept of traditional family values.The concept of faith, sacrifice, wisdom and idealism are
related almost in a river like flow from Anne all the way down to St. John.
The start or source of this knowledge comes from "God the Father" who is
not represented but pointed towards by St. Anne, Mary's mother on whom
Mary sits. In some ways, this refers back to the "throne of wisdom"
them that was evidenced in Giotto and Cimabue's painting but in this case,
Leonardo's drawing is a correction of the original schema. In this
case, St. Anne becomes the original throne on which Mary rests.From Anne comes Mary, who offers her child to the world
and he in turn offers his blessing, in the form of a gesture, and therefore
wisdom, to the apostle John who will go and relate the "good news" to his
followers.From another perspective, this image also communicates
the point of view of the Renaissance audience about the roles of women.
The women in this image are in some ways representative of the "ideal"
woman. Clearly an image like this incorporates the point of view
that motherhood is a very high calling. Since images like this were
primarily commissioned by male patrons and made by male artists some historians
have named this phenomena the "male gaze."Context: This large drawing is neither a study of
a finished drawing for presentation in the strictest sense. Although
in some ways it is both. This drawing is a cartoon and is a planning
drawing or design. In some ways it's a form of carbon paper.
The drawing would have been used in a similar fashion to the paper designs
dress makers use. The drawing would have been pierced with a pin
or awl along its main contours and then the image would have been transferred
to a canvas or board by "pouncing" charcoal or chalk through the holes
created by the pin. Stokstad explains that there is no finished painting associated
with this drawing, however, Leonardo has several paintings that are very
similar to it. It was not unknown of and actually a fairly common
practice to recycle old cartoons, and the basic designs of paintings over
and over again. For example, Cimabue has several version of the seated
Madonna that look almost identical but for minor differences in color,
iconography the number of angels and the apostles who accompany her.
This may account for the weird interrelationship and tangle of legs between
Mary and Anne in the image. It is possible that Leonardo recycled
and collaged some old ideas and figures in this cartoon. Another
painting that shares many of these qualities with this cartoon is Leonardo's
Virgin and St. Anne with the Christ Child, 1510 now in the Louvre.

Iconography: This work shares almost the same exact
content as the cartoon above; however, in this the St. John is substituted
with a lamb. The lamb is symbolic of Christ as the Lamb of God and
of his preordained sacrifice.Some minor changes dealing with the gestures and poses
of the figures are in evidence. Most noticeably is Anne's.
In this version she does not chose to gesticulate towards the heavens but
instead places her hand on her hip in to compliment this self assured and
calm gesture she smiles benevolently down on her progeny.Formal: An element that blurs the line between iconography
and formalism is the use of the triangular or pyramidal organization of
the figures. This shape is both iconic of the Trinity and it is a visual
device which pulls the eye back into the picture plane and stabilizes the
composition.The "cut and paste" of the three figures, especially in
how the figure of Mary relates to the figure of St. Anne, can probably
be traced back to the use of older studies or cartoons which Leonardo has
combined. This painting also shares a lot in common with his Mona
Lisa. The shared qualities involved deal with his creation of space
by using two devices, the use of atmospheric or aerial perspective
and the use of sfumato.

Alberti's system of linear perspective failed
to solve many problems related to the effective portrayal of depth by limiting
it to a horizon line and by giving the appearance that the various planes
in a painting are stacked much like a stage set.3 By careful observation
of nature as the ultimate teacher, Leonardo solves these problems, "Perspective
is divided into three parts, of which the first is concerned solely with
the outlines of the bodies; the second in the diminution of colors at varying
distances; the third in the loss of definition of bodies at various distances."4
Leonardo observed and defined atmospheric perspective and color perspective
which in combination are often referred to as "aerial perspective."Leonardo explains color perspective this way, ". . . through
variations in the air we are made aware of the different distances of various
buildings. . . therefore make the first building. . . its own color; the
next most distant make more blue. . . at another distance bluer yet and
that which is five time more distant make five times more blue."5
This principle is demonstrated in the background of Mona Lisa: the
ground and hills directly behind the subject are painted in warm tones
of reddish browns and tans. As the landscape recedes the mountains and
water become progressively more blue. Leonardo also noted that air is more
dense closest to the earth, therefore the bases of hills will always appear
lighter than the summit; he applies this theory to the hills behind the
sitter's shoulders which start out a tan color and become dark brown.6Leonardo's optical observations delineated atmospheric
perspective in this way: "[t]hat thing will be less evident that is furthest
removed from the eye. The boundaries of things in the second plane will
not be discerned like those in the first."7 This theory is especially
well developed in the backgrounds of Mona Lisa and Madonna and
Saint Anne, which become less and less detailed as the images recede
until they become so distant to the eye that they disappear in the atmosphere.
Leonardo's establishment of these principles brought to an end the medieval
system of absolute color and allowed artists to compress miles of landscape
onto a flat picture plane.8

Endnotes

1. Martin Kemp, ed., Leonardo on Painting, (New
Haven and others: Yale University Press, 1989), 197.2. Serge Bramly, Leonardo: Discovering the Life of
Leonardo da Vinci,
Sian Reynolds, trans., (New York: Harper and Collins
Publishers, 1991),3. William V. Dunning, Changing Image of Pictorial
Space: A History of Spatial Illusion in Painting, (Syracuse: Syracuse
University Press, 1991), 42.4. Kemp, 16.5. Kemp, 80.6. Kemp, 83-84.7. Kemp, 85-87.|8. Marcia Hall, Color and Meaning: Practice and Theory
in Renaissance Painting, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994),
68.The following is part of an essay excerpted from an art
historical magazine published by Chico State called "Contrapposto"
which can be found at http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/contents.html"What Insights do Leonardo's Writings Shed on His Work?"
by S. Lee Hager go to this site for the full essay http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/essays/art345/hagerl.html

Raphael put portraits of important and influential people
in the painting as a way to express the idea that the new Papal court was
an updated, yet Catholic, school of Athens.Raphael uses Leonardo's face as a model for Plato, who
gestures up.

Zoroaster, Ptolemy, Raphael and SodomaOne of the skills that most painters needed to develop
during the Renaissance period was the ability to paint portraits and accurate
likenesses. Often this skill was developed by painting with a the
only model that one might have available which is one's self. The
humanistic and platonic idea of perfectability also gave rise to self reflection
and observation and in this case, self aggrandizement. A portrait
then is not just about the immediate apprearance but also it is a symbol
of the person. In this image we see that the artist is studying himself
and also demonstrating his ability to create a strong physical likeness
as well a psychological likeness.

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About Me

I used to be a tenured professor of art history and studio art at Ohlone College in Fremont but in 2016 I decided to resign/retire to make art full time. I still "teach" on line and you can sign up for my art marketing and art history courses here: